Bikers on the Rimutaka Hill

[ducatilover]

I don't see the appeal of riding fast over a crowded road. Some of you fullas are strange.
Plenty of grouse roads down that way you can enjoy, get a flow on and all that rubbish, without going splat on a car.

Or have a tug, works for me, only two of my three bikes work, so more tug time.

edit: one of three. I lie, it'll be red raw next week

[TheDemonLord]

It amazes me how good some truck drivers are on the hill actually. I find most do their best to keep a long behemoth on their side of the road and pull over when they can to let traffic pass. It's silly to expect them to be able to always stay on their side of the centreline on the tight corners. It's even sillier for riders to not be prepared for this. Allow for it. Not that hard really.

This is an interesting comment - I agree that many truck drivers do indeed do their best to stay on their side of the road - but what if despite all the best efforts, they aren't?

To me at least, if a truck isn't able to safely navigate a stretch of road (and by safely I mean stay 100% on their side of the road 100% of the time), then they should not be allowed to drive it - I say this without predjudice to the truck driver themselves, but if the road is such that they cannot stay on their side - then their vehicle is not safe to drive on that peice of road.

[Paul in NZ]

I can tell you from personal experience It's pretty fucking sad standing beside someone while they're dying from doing something they love and their partner pleads with them not to

From that day on I thought It's a fucking shit term to use

Damn straight... Its usually no consolation at all and mostly (from close observation) dying from motorcycling is fairly painful and bloody sobering for others. I really like motorcycles but most of all I LOVE being alive so I can enjoy motorcycles a bit more... Its vital to keep your priorities straight...

[Paul in NZ]

At the end of the day what does it matter? Some people will not be affected by the recent death, some will. Some riders will pull their heads in (even if it's for a V short time) and some riders won't. What is a certain is that no matter what, the general public do not like us and are intimidated in some form by "fast riders" or riders that ride like twats and whatever any governing authority says for or against the bikers will not please everyone. The other certain is, as others have eluded too that some riders have ruined it for the rest.
People will keep killing themselves on motorcycles and we will keep losing friends, shit happens but not one of us can stop someone from making a fatal mistake. What we can do is try and be a little more sensible cause it sucks losing mates.

Great post....

[SMOKEU]

This sounds exactly like the Akaroa hill.

[blackdog]

This is an interesting comment - I agree that many truck drivers do indeed do their best to stay on their side of the road - but what if despite all the best efforts, they aren't?

To me at least, if a truck isn't able to safely navigate a stretch of road (and by safely I mean stay 100% on their side of the road 100% of the time), then they should not be allowed to drive it - I say this without predjudice to the truck driver themselves, but if the road is such that they cannot stay on their side - then their vehicle is not safe to drive on that peice of road.

You didn't really think that out did ya.

How are you going to live without bread and milk, or anything else for that matter. Because what you propose is completely untenable.

[jellywrestler]

To me at least, if a truck isn't able to safely navigate a stretch of road (and by safely I mean stay 100% on their side of the road 100% of the time), then they should not be allowed to drive it -

problem solved
apply that logic to motorcyclists on the hill and we'll be down to about 5 % left.

[TheDemonLord]

You didn't really think that out did ya.

How are you going to live without bread and milk, or anything else for that matter. Because what you propose is completely untenable.

Didn't I?

If certain roads were closed to trucks - they would simply find an alternative route (with the increased cost of Haulage passed on to the consumer)

Then we would most likely see intense lobbying from the Haulage sector to change/improve/re-route certain roads so that they are now safe for Trucks

OR

industries would find alternatives (like Rail, Barge, Sea, Air) to deliver our goods.

[James Deuce]

Rail. Lol. Sea. Lol. The two great things about trucking in NZ is that stuff gets from one end of the country to the other overnight and very seldom goes missing. In the bad old days, businesses used to factor in up to 40% stock losses in shipping in some sectors because of the criminal activities in ports and railyards. It may not happen in future if those industries start carrying their weight again, but it will need a couple of generations of Kiwis to die before anyone puts any commercial trust in them.

Trucking has been very good for NZ's economy.

[fridayflash]

i wouldnt say id like to see the return days of govt regulation but id like to see more freight back on the rails where it used to be...it takes me longer to drive from napier to auck, or napier to wgtn nowaday than it did 20 years ago, despite improved roads. and that is mostly due to road freight

[rebel]

This is an interesting comment - I agree that many truck drivers do indeed do their best to stay on their side of the road - but what if despite all the best efforts, they aren't?

To me at least, if a truck isn't able to safely navigate a stretch of road (and by safely I mean stay 100% on their side of the road 100% of the time), then they should not be allowed to drive it - I say this without predjudice to the truck driver themselves, but if the road is such that they cannot stay on their side - then their vehicle is not safe to drive on that peice of road.

Fair call I suppose, but this is SH2 FFS. Fact is that semis and truck & trailer have to swing their front wheel over the line on the Wairarapa side on a few left hand corners. Still, for every truck doing this, there would be 10 cars (unnecessarily) crossing the centre line on right hand corners. Transit or the police could have several signs along the hill telling motorists to keep left/stop cutting corners, maybe warning other road users (cars) to be weary of bikes and trucks, but they just don't make that sort of coin like 5 k over the limit. Which exposes the crock of shit their whole safety campaign is.

As an ex truck driver some stand out roads I used to haul on were Whangamata to Waihi, Tairua to Whitianga, Arthurs Pass, and several dozen narrow bridges the length of the country. Whats the alternative... ship their shit to them on a daily basis, use 3 12 metre rigid trucks instead of one 22m semi... Not gonna happen.

[TheDemonLord]

Rail. Lol. Sea. Lol. The two great things about trucking in NZ is that stuff gets from one end of the country to the other overnight and very seldom goes missing. In the bad old days, businesses used to factor in up to 40% stock losses in shipping in some sectors because of the criminal activities in ports and railyards. It may not happen in future if those industries start carrying their weight again, but it will need a couple of generations of Kiwis to die before anyone puts any commercial trust in them.

Trucking has been very good for NZ's economy.

I agree with your sentiments - but if Trucking wasn't an option, the economy would compensate by finding other methods. The stock loss aspect - well that is a different issue entirely, one for the Police and better workplace security/policy/scrutiny

I don't disagree that Trucking is good - but compare ourselves to our European friends, where Sea and Rail is used for the aerterial transport and trucks generally used for the last part of the journey and also compare that where there is long distance trucking, it is generally over 2-3 lane concrete motorways.

- As for government regulation - I am in general vehemently against this, (economically speaking it tends to cause more problems than it solves) the solution here would be to make Rail a competetive option in order to encourage companies to send more freight by Rail

[fridayflash]

the main problem being the cost of overhaul of tracks and facilities etc to cope with the increased rail load, more rolling stock, workshops, staff etc etc
lets face it, itll never happen again

[James Deuce]

the main problem being the cost of overhaul of tracks and facilities etc to cope with the increased rail load, more rolling stock, workshops, staff etc etc
lets face it, itll never happen again

Especially with our toy train gauge.

[James Deuce]

I agree with your sentiments - but if Trucking wasn't an option, the economy would compensate by finding other methods. The stock loss aspect - well that is a different issue entirely, one for the Police and better workplace security/policy/scrutiny

I don't disagree that Trucking is good - but compare ourselves to our European friends, where Sea and Rail is used for the aerterial transport and trucks generally used for the last part of the journey and also compare that where there is long distance trucking, it is generally over 2-3 lane concrete motorways.

- As for government regulation - I am in general vehemently against this, (economically speaking it tends to cause more problems than it solves) the solution here would be to make Rail a competetive option in order to encourage companies to send more freight by Rail

They're not "sentiments". Rail will never be competitive in NZ mostly because of poor choices in rail gauge which limits rolling stock availability. You can't compare us to Europe. Our population density is minuscule. The economies of scale needed to make a complete overhaul of our rail network don't exist. Our road network is phenomenal when that is taken into account. Our traffic density is also tiny. Compared to Europe we barely have road congestion.